Jiangshi - October Theme {Process Post}

Good evening! Halloween time is always a reason for me to do a slightly spooky theme and for October, the theme is Jiangshi.

A Jiangshi is basically a Chinese zombie. They are also known as a hopping vampire because the origin of a jiangshi came when Taoist priests will used to transport the dead on poles and the movement makes them feel like they are hopping. I actually learn that fact while watching infomative videos on Youtube.

My Jiangshi character is super cute but if you watch old Chinese dramas, the Jiangshi is actually very scary when they loomed out of the forest at night. 

My jiangshi is based off the concept of Hong Kong + work + exhaustion + lofi. 

I want to design her in a not as conventional Jiangshi design so she doesn't wear a hat that typical corpses wear. Instead she has buns with a Chinese talismen on top. The symbol on the taslimen comes from 命 "life" but I abstract it a bit so it is almost unreadable for the design. Her skin is gray and dead. I gave her stitches on her leg in typical zombie fashion but I also want to extend it to her garment for more of a pattern accent. 

Surrounding her are old Hong Kong neon sign that invades her day with work. The Chinese word on the sign is 死 , Btw "死命" also means death. But just imagine that the words are really just decoration. The Chinese language is pretty nuanced and I don't understand it. 

I want to give this theme a lofi color scheme because one listens to lofi music while working haha. 

The sticker sheet is an extension of the postcard design, where you see the character doing her day job at a fast food restaurant and living (haha) just a little more for her next paycheck. Note that her tasliman can change locations on her body. She just need to be wearing one. 

I love drawing this theme and her design is one of my favorites for 2025! I hope you like my writeup today. 

PSD Link: Jiangshi

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